Health Care Reform Passes!
On Sunday, March 21, 2010, the House of Representatives finally capped off over a year of debate and passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. On Tuesday, March 23, 2010, President Obama signed that bill into law.
After all the rallies, all the calls to Congress, all the Letters to the Editor, all the visits to Capitol Hill, all the reading and presentations to learn what was in the bill and whether it would do right by resident physicians and their patients, all the arguments and all the rhetoric, health care reform is now the law of the land.
How did your Representatives vote on that historic day? Did they side with the patients you see every day on behalf of quality, affordable health care for all? Or did they side with the insurance companies?
Find out here -- and then let your member of Congress know about your gratitude or disappointment.
The health care reform law is not the end of reform. In fact today the Senate takes up a bill to immediately fix some of the flaws in the health reform law and will attempt to pass it through the budget reconciliation process. But it does address many of the concerns resident physicians have been talking about for years:
- It makes insurance more affordable by reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today. This will ultimately help over 32 million Americans afford health care who do not get it today - and makes coverage more affordable for many more.
- It sets up a new competitive health insurance market giving tens of millions of Americans the exact same insurance choices that members of Congress will have.
- It brings greater accountability to health care by laying out commonsense regulationsto keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care.
- It will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.
- It targets government overspending and creates new programs to rein in waste, fraud and abuse.
CIR will be making more information available to you over the weeks to come about how this health reform law impacts you, your patients and your hospitals. We'll also have a lot to say about ways we can make our health care system even better.
Please take the time to thank representatives who voted for the bill and to urge those who voted against it to stand with us in the future as we work to make this reform even better.
Find out whether your member of Congress voted for health reform here -- and then let your member of Congress know about your gratitude or disappointment.